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UBC frat council halts social functions after women allegedly drugged

The school’s Interfraternity Council says it is working closely with all involved
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People walk past large letters spelling out UBC at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C., on November 22, 2015. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

All social functions at University of British Columbia fraternities have been indefinitely suspended in the wake of allegations that several students were drugged over the weekend.

The school’s Interfraternity Council says in a statement posted on Facebook that it has been in contact with fraternity leadership and is working closely with “pertinent groups.”

“We take any issues concerning the safety of the UBC community and the community at large very seriously. Further, the IFC has indefinitely suspended all social functions,” it says.

Ainsley Carry, the university’s vice president of students, says the school received information Tuesday night on Twitter that students may have been drugged at a fraternity party on the weekend.

In a statement, he says staff asked the RCMP to open an investigation Wednesday morning but the local detachment had not received any complaints at that time.

READ MORE: UBC investigating reports of women being drugged at fraternities

An interview request with Carry was declined, but the statement says no reports of drugging in the “Fraternity Village” had been filed with campus security either.

“My staff has been in contact with the Interfraternity Council and we will be speaking to the fraternities at length in the coming days. We are doing everything we can to find out more,” it says.

It asks anyone with information to report it to the RCMP, which declined comment but said a statement is forthcoming.

The school’s statement comes after economics instructor Marina Adshade tweeted that one of her students had been drugged.

“One of my students spent the weekend in the hospital after being drugged in a Vancouver bar on Friday night. On Saturday morning there were six (6!!) women with her who had been drugged in the fraternities on UBC campus,” asserts the post sent on Tuesday afternoon.

She says in another tweet that the student gave her permission to post about the incident on Twitter.

In an interview, Adshade says the student told her that she was out with other students at a bar in downtown Vancouver.

“About 10 minutes after arriving, she lost all memory of being there,” Adshade said.

The student was lucky she had friends who noticed something was wrong and took her to a hospital within the hour, she said.

Adshade said hospital staff told the student that tests showed a “cocktail” of drugs in her system and she spent two nights in care.

The student told her there were six other women in the hospital Saturday morning with symptoms consistent with drugging.

Adshade said at least one or two students each year, including both men and women, tell her they have been drugged.

“It’s not uncommon,” she said.

Amy Smart, The Canadian Press

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